tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-135203242017-09-26T13:04:27.708-04:00The Rural Blog<b>A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the <a href="http://www.RuralJournalism.org">Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues</a>, based at the University of Kentucky.</b>
Links <b><u>may expire </u></b>, require subscription or go behind pay walls. Please send news and knowledge you think would be useful to <u><a href="mailto:al.cross@uky.edu">al.cross@uky.edu</a></u>. Follow us on Twitter @RuralJournalismMelissa Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01558431327921705882noreply@blogger.comBlogger13994125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-18841345385720411252017-09-26T12:57:00.000-04:002017-09-26T12:57:26.710-04:00Grants to fund young reporters for major news outlets in Central Appalachia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Central Appalachia will get more news coverage with funding of reporters for established news organizations by a philanthropic initiative.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.gallowayfoundation.org/">Galloway Family Foundation</a> and The GroundTruth Project’s new <a href="https://www.reportforamerica.org/">“Report for America” initiative</a>&nbsp;will offer establish three year-long fellowships next year for emerging journalists at the <b>Lexington Herald-Leader</b>,&nbsp;<a href="http://wvpublic.org/#stream/0">West Virginia Public Broadcasting</a> and the <a href="http://www.wvgazettemail.com/">Charleston Gazette-Mail</a>.<br /><br />The Herald-Leader <a href="http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article175404816.html" target="_blank">reports</a>, "The three journalists will report directly to their respective news organizations and combine daily assignments with a longer, in-depth project that will be a collaboration of the three news organizations. (<a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdyyzHM7IrfLyn6dZEVjTdXYzxY-z1au9VgctcNsDPDpt732Q/viewform">Journalists interested in applying may do so here</a>.)<br /><div><br /></div><div>The Galloway Foundation finances journalism fellowships all over the world. Founder L. Thomas Galloway, a Kentucky native, said he hopes the effort “will increase the resources available to Appalachian journalism, and in doing so, allow for more in-depth coverage of the serious issues confronting the region.”</div><div><br /></div><div>The Herald-Leader reporter&nbsp;will be assigned to Pikeville, re-establishing a bureau the McClatchy Co. newspaper closed in 2011. "In West Virginia, the Charleston Gazette-Mail and West Virginia Public Broadcasting both plan to have their reporters in the southern part of the state, which like Eastern Kentucky lies in the depressed Central Appalachian coalfield.</div><div><br /></div><div>The reporters' mentorship and training program "will include a collaboration with the <a href="https://www.revealnews.org/">Center for Investigative Reporting</a> to prepare and guide the reporters to work together on a long-form piece for Reveal, the public radio program and podcast that CIR produces and distributes nationally with PRX," the Herald-Leader reports.<br /><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; height: 1px; line-height: normal; overflow: hidden; width: 1px;">Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article175404816.html#storylink=cpy</div></div><div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; height: 1px; line-height: normal; overflow: hidden; width: 1px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article175404816.html#storylink=cpy</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; height: 1px; line-height: normal; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article175404816.html#storylink=cpy</div></div></div>Al Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12359789093150390148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-1954548463331900002017-09-26T12:56:00.000-04:002017-09-26T13:04:27.746-04:00Tyson scraps plans for chicken plant near Kansas town after locals protest<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1xH12kOVT48/WcqIEXSXxBI/AAAAAAAABaM/JAideZRlg7Au17wXhHK0JOHoLoMF0kx9wCLcBGAs/s1600/Tyson%2BTongie%2Bal%2B090517%2525A00052f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="560" height="250" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1xH12kOVT48/WcqIEXSXxBI/AAAAAAAABaM/JAideZRlg7Au17wXhHK0JOHoLoMF0kx9wCLcBGAs/s400/Tyson%2BTongie%2Bal%2B090517%2525A00052f.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tonganoxie locals protest the proposed Tyson plant. <i>(Kansas City Star photo)</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />After local backlash, <b>Tyson Foods</b> announced Sept. 19 that it will likely not build a planned $320 million poultry plant near Tonganoxie, Kansas. "In a letter to the Leavenworth County community on Tuesday, Tyson poultry president Doug Ramsey wrote, 'We’d still like to get to know each other, however, after Monday’s reversal of support by the Leavenworth County commissioners, we will put our plans in your community on hold. We still have interest in Leavenworth County, but will prioritize the other locations in Kansas and other states that have expressed support,'" David Frese and Hunter Woodall <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article174218521.html">report</a> for the <b>Kansas City Star</b>. Tonganoxie is a town of almost 6,000 just west of Kansas City.<br /><br />Three weeks ago, Tyson announced plans to build the complex, which would have provided 1,600 jobs and processed 1.25 million birds every week. Locals protested the plans, "pointing to Tyson's environmental record and numerous other concerns about what the plant would mean to the community, Todd Neeley <a href="https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/article/2017/09/19/decision-comes-county-pulls-plug?referrer=NLBestOf">reports</a> for <b>The Progressive Farmer</b>.<br /><br />"As of Wednesday morning, more than a dozen communities in Kansas have contacted the state about having Tyson build the proposed $320 million plant in their area, said Jackie McClaskey, Kansas secretary of agriculture," Frese and Woodall report.Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-501964315779785832017-09-26T12:37:00.002-04:002017-09-26T12:45:32.299-04:00Media researcher who started in rural journalism sees value in newspapers' community columns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wwSxEABzDWQ/WclQj5FQISI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/oHMZ0z5ew2EQpP86Lkm21rtOqMsk8WskgCLcBGAs/s1600/samford.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="224" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wwSxEABzDWQ/WclQj5FQISI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/oHMZ0z5ew2EQpP86Lkm21rtOqMsk8WskgCLcBGAs/s200/samford.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>Before Sam Ford was a research fellow for <b>MIT</b> helping lead a <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/polarization-public-sphere-lessons-from-bowling-green-ohio-county-kentucky.php">study</a> of political polarization for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at <b>Columbia University</b>, he was a rural journalist. In fact, he got his start as a community columnist for his tiny hometown, McHenry, Ky., when he was in elementary school. As he tells it in an article for <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/facebook-society-columns-community.php">Columbia Journalism Review</a>, Ford took responsibility for the column when he grandmother became ill and needed a break.<br /><br />Now, as he examines American politics in the wake of the November 2016 presidential election and how Americans view the reliability and value of journalism, Ford sees some lessons in the ways old-fashioned society columns in newspapers helped create community. It's an important lesson given the impact of social media on the country today -- especially in rural areas.<br /><br />"As the gathering places of many small towns have dwindled, and our online conversations are increasingly polarized, I keep thinking back to how important those columns were to my family, and many of those around me, in connecting us to the other few hundred who lived in our little town," Ford writes.<br /><br />Ford took the column up in 1995, when he was 12 years old, and continued it until he was a senior in high school and then handed it off to his mother. Betty Hillard Ford's column is the last of its kind still running in the <a href="http://www.octimesnews.com/">Ohio County (Ky.) Times-News</a>.<br /><br />"Over the past 15 years, I've watched as those columns slowly began disappearing - as the curators of each of these small towns' news fell ill or passed away, without anyone coming along behind them to take up the tradition, and as new communication platforms take on the functions these columns once had," he writes.<br /><br />Communities like McHenry (pop. 400), observes Ford, "have city governments that no news outlet has the staff resources to give much coverage to. These towns have often lost the general stores, local diners, post offices, elementary schools, and other gathering places that once defined them. And the tone of polarization of communication in digital spaces do not necessarily lend themselves [to] being the best venue for civic engagement at the most local of levels."<br /><br />Ford, an independent media consultant who teaches at <b>Western Kentucky University</b>, co-leads the study of political polarization and media with Andrea Wenzel, who teaches journalism at <b>Temple University</b>.&nbsp;Their research was the subject of a daylong workshop, <a href="http://irjci.blogspot.com/2017/08/journalists-explore-ways-to-serve-and.html">"From Polarization to Public Sphere,"</a> Aug. 18 in Bowling Green.</div>Jennifer P. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09163786339291621706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-28807355979849385582017-09-26T12:04:00.000-04:002017-09-26T12:42:25.347-04:00Facebook CEO visits Eastern Ky. to support education initiative<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bAVcEHzUwtg/Wcp429YpR7I/AAAAAAAABZ8/HoHC7sklwuUgDvBWhWZidaQOZFgt6-hWgCLcBGAs/s1600/zuckerberg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="191" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bAVcEHzUwtg/Wcp429YpR7I/AAAAAAAABZ8/HoHC7sklwuUgDvBWhWZidaQOZFgt6-hWgCLcBGAs/s320/zuckerberg.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;Zuckerberg checks out a robotics project by Appalachian<br />students.&nbsp;<i>(Photo provided by Jacob Stratton)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>Students and teachers in Eastern Kentucky got a big surprise Saturday when <b>Facebook</b> CEO Mark Zuckerberg came for an unannounced visit, Valarie Honeycutt Spears <a href="http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article175278331.html">reports</a> for the <b>Lexington Herald-Leader</b>. Students from five counties were invited to meet with staff from the <a href="https://chanzuckerberg.com/">Chan Zuckerberg Initiative</a> in Hazard. The purpose of the visit, they were told, was to "demonstrate and discuss some of the innovations taking place in schools and classrooms that are transforming teaching and learning," said Ron Daley, an official with the <b>Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative</b>, which is a consortium of 22 public school districts in Eastern Kentucky.<br /><br />"KVEC is working to help pilot a technology initiative called the Summit Learning Platform in several schools in the region," Spears reports. Summit is a free online tool that helps teachers create customized lessons for each student. It's funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which explains Zuckerberg's visit. He wanted it to be a "listening and interaction opportunity without media," Daley told Spears.<br /><br />Zuckerberg, who also visited West Virginia over the weekend, was impressed. He posted on his Facebook page: "I talked to some students who were using the Summit personalized learning tools we’ve been building at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and who were learning how to code. These kids were showing me the games, robots, drones, and VR apps (!!) they were coding." His post went on to say that more than 300 schools in the US will be using the Summit program this fall.<br /><br />Rural Kentucky tech ed innovations have gotten increasing media attention in recent years. KVEC and Belfry, Ky., teacher Haridas Chandran were written up in a recent <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/">Atlantic</a>&nbsp;magazine article. Chandran and KVEC are also featured in a documentary that will air at 10 ET tonight on the <a href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic Channel</a>. "Without a Net: The Digital Divide in America" is about schools in disadvantaged areas that are trying to prepare students for life in a high-tech world.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-53352315312786683972017-09-26T12:00:00.000-04:002017-09-26T12:47:51.750-04:00Raycom Media and CNHI announce merger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">"Two media organizations that own dozens of newspapers and television stations across the nation are announcing a merger," <b>The&nbsp;Associated Press</b> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/raycom-media-community-newspaper-holdings-announce-merger/2017/09/25/0afc3d42-a211-11e7-b573-8ec86cdfe1ed_story.html?utm_term=.a1501d97d1d7">reports</a>. <b>Raycom Media Inc</b>. and <b>Community Newspaper Holdings Inc</b>. are merging into a new privately owned media group, CNHI said in a <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/raycom-media-inc-and-community-newspaper-holdings-inc-announce-merger/?utm_source=API+Need+to+Know+newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=f31b186609-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_26&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_e3bf78af04-f31b186609-45831621">press release</a>.<br /><br />CNHI will be a Raycom subsidiary. The merger will result in one of the nation's largest privately owned media groups, CNHI said. "Raycom’s stations cover more than 16 percent of U.S. television households. Most of its stations in are in southern states, but it also owns stations in Ohio and Indiana and as far west as Honolulu, Hawaii," the AP reports.<br /><br />CNHI is one of the largest owners of community newspapers in the U.S. "Among CNHI’s largest newspapers: <b>The Eagle-Tribune</b> of North Andover, Mass.; <b>The Joplin Globe</b> in Missouri; and <b>The Tribune-Democrat</b> of Johnstown, Pa.," AP reports.<br /><br />After the merger, if Raycom stations overlap with CNHI newspaper territory, the newspapers will be sold to a third party. The companies expect to complete the merger Friday, Sept. 29.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-88277719052839788542017-09-26T10:38:00.001-04:002017-09-26T12:44:31.348-04:00Hurricane Maria ruins agriculture in Puerto Rico<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X9i_jAg6h3E/WcpiC45VQuI/AAAAAAAABZo/MJD73ogMm0Yro3CLVIq4jo4CGlO71iudgCLcBGAs/s1600/26PUERTO-superJumbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X9i_jAg6h3E/WcpiC45VQuI/AAAAAAAABZo/MJD73ogMm0Yro3CLVIq4jo4CGlO71iudgCLcBGAs/s400/26PUERTO-superJumbo.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puerto Ricans lined up for drinking water outside a police station in Juncos. <br /><i>(New York Times photo by Victor Blue)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>After surveying his ruined plantain farm, farmer Jose Rivera summed up his fears succinctly: "There will be no food in Puerto Rico," he predicted. "There is no more agriculture in Puerto Rico. And there won't be any for a year or longer."<br /><br />When Hurricane Maria blasted through Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, it left "a rich agricultural region looking like the result of a postapocalyptic drought," Frances Robles and Luis Ferre-Sadruni <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-agriculture-.html?mcubz=3">report</a> for <b>The New York Times</b>. In just hours, the storm "wiped out about 80 percent of the crop value in Puerto Rico -- making it one of the costliest storms to hit the island's agriculture industry." That's according to Carlos Flores Ortega, Puerto Rico's agriculture secretary.&nbsp;The department's preliminary figures say that's about $780 million in lost yields.<br /><br />Though Puerto Rico imports 85 percent of its food, its economy was once based primarily on agriculture, the Times reports. In recent years, partially because of the island's economic recession, farming has become more popular. But with those crops wiped out, Puerto Ricans will be forced to import even more food, and possibly pay higher prices for it. To complicate matters, nearby islands that export food to Puerto Rico were also hit hard by Maria.<br /><br />Dairy farmers are in dire straits too, since they don't have the electricity to run milking or refrigeration machinery, or the gas to deliver products to stores (which don't have refrigeration either). "Since Wednesday, I have thrown out 4,000 liters of milk a day," dairy farmer Efrain Robles Menendez said, "Come back later and watch me pour it all down the drain."<br /><br />Local officials hope there's a silver lining in the destruction: federal aid will help rebuild antiquated infrastructure with modern technology, and that could help the agriculture industry come back better than ever, the Times reports. Some farms could be operational within a year, but others will take longer. In the meantime, Puerto Ricans--especially in rural areas--are stranded with little food, money, medical equipment, gas or water.<br /><br />Food, water and diesel fuel have been dispatched, and FEMA teams are canvassing the island to assess its needs, but getting aid to the island is difficult because it must come from sea or air. Only the Port of San Juan has been cleared for operation, and airports are damaged. Gov. Ricardo Rossello said "We still need some more help. This is clearly a critical disaster in Puerto Rico," Samantha Schmidt and Joel Achenbach <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hot-isolated-and-running-out-of-supplies-parts-of-puerto-rico-near-desperation/2017/09/24/7f3bcc78-a139-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html?utm_term=.7a64b24e2463">report</a> for <b>The Washington Post</b>.<br /><br />President Trump announced today that he will travel to Puerto Rico next Tuesday to survey the hurricane damage. "The president told reporters at the White House that damage on the ground prevents any earlier travel&nbsp;to the island, which he said has been 'literally destroyed.' Trump expressed confidence that 'they’ll be back' and said the people of Puerto Rico 'are important to all of us,'" Jordan Fabian <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/352450-trump-to-travel-to-puerto-rico-to-survey-damage">reports</a> for <b>The Hill</b>.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-87186171423939146182017-09-25T12:39:00.001-04:002017-09-25T12:44:16.761-04:00Vaccine to prevent HPV-caused cancers gains ground among teenagers, but rural areas lag<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gG4aOymSAOY/WckxyDouVkI/AAAAAAAAR3U/ceF-JCJE1K82kjrqMOsiUfP0S1DwLHCZQCEwYBhgL/s1600/HPVvaccineCrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="562" height="126" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gG4aOymSAOY/WckxyDouVkI/AAAAAAAAR3U/ceF-JCJE1K82kjrqMOsiUfP0S1DwLHCZQCEwYBhgL/s200/HPVvaccineCrop.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The vaccine is administered in three shots.</i></td></tr></tbody></table>The federal&nbsp;<b>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</b>&nbsp;says more teenagers nationwide are getting the human papillomavirus vaccine, but rural areas are still lagging. "Sixty percent of adolescents received one or more doses of the HPV vaccine in 2016, an increase of 4 percentage points from 2015, researchers found. About a decade ago, the figure was less than <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/downloads/vacc-coverage-hpv-map-basic.pdf">30 percent</a>," Aneri Pattani <a href="https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/health/hpv-vaccine-teenagers.html?emc=edit_tnt_20170923&amp;nlid=40735959&amp;tntemail0=y&amp;_r=0&amp;referer=">reports</a> for <b>The New York Times</b>.<br /><br />But rural HPV vaccination rates are 15 percentage points lower than in cities. The report speculates that the discrepancy could be because of differences in parents' opinions or a shortage of pediatricians in rural areas. Shannon Stokley, the co-author of the study and the associate director for science at the <b>Immunization Services Division</b> of the CDC, says, "It’s a new finding, and at this point we really don’t know what’s behind that. We need to better understand what’s going on in rural communities."<br /><br />"The vaccine protects against strains of HPV that can cause cancers of the cervix, penis, anus and back of the throat. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db280.pdf">Close to half of all Americans</a> are infected at any given time, and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/hpv/statistics/cases.htm">nearly 32,000</a> get cancer from the virus each year," Pattani reports. The vaccine could have prevented 90 percent of those cases, according to the CDC. New guidelines may make it easier for teens to complete the series; last year the CDC changed the guidelines from three doses to two doses for teens under 15. </div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-47852694902992488482017-09-25T12:20:00.009-04:002017-09-25T12:22:29.728-04:00National Newspaper Week starts Sunday, Oct. 1; plenty of materials available for download<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FvaZFT6bHiQ/Wckd4jZX4ZI/AAAAAAAABY0/kdoHfs3mie0eI93ivLDlGmBISdWcjxnMQCLcBGAs/s1600/National-Newspaper-Week-2017-Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1250" height="193" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FvaZFT6bHiQ/Wckd4jZX4ZI/AAAAAAAABY0/kdoHfs3mie0eI93ivLDlGmBISdWcjxnMQCLcBGAs/s320/National-Newspaper-Week-2017-Logo.jpg" width="288" /></a><b></b></div><b>National Newspaper Week</b> runs Oct. 1-7; here's some information to help you plan your paper's participation.<br /><br />This year is the 77th anniversary of NNW, an observance that celebrates the impact of newspapers of all sizes to communities of all sizes. This year's theme is "Real Newspapers ... Real News!" NNW 2017 Chair Tom Newton explains: "The aim is to applaud and underscore newspaper media’s role as the leading provider of news in print, online or via mobile devices. Many publishers and editors also editorialize about their newspapers' unique relevance. This can be about your government watchdog role, coverage of community events, publication of timely public notices, etc."<br /><br />Materials are available at <a href="http://www.nationalnewspaperweek.com/">www.NationalNewspaperWeek.com</a>. The kit has editorials, editorial cartoons, promotional ads and more. All materials are free to download for any U.S. newspaper. New and archived materials from years past are available on the website year-round as resources.<br /><br />National Newspaper Week is sponsored by <b>Newspaper Association Managers Inc.,</b>&nbsp;the consortium of North American trade association executives representing the industry on a state and provincial, regional and national basis. </div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-61585136544979653762017-09-25T12:18:00.001-04:002017-09-25T12:18:57.846-04:00Indian Country Today shuts down, maybe for good<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5Ebuz1EdK4/WckqrFJxHrI/AAAAAAAAR3I/r6iug8C-Wpcy4JVdt3qCV6p82Hx01iVJACLcBGAs/s1600/IndianCountryTodaySG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="1364" height="242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5Ebuz1EdK4/WckqrFJxHrI/AAAAAAAAR3I/r6iug8C-Wpcy4JVdt3qCV6p82Hx01iVJACLcBGAs/s400/IndianCountryTodaySG.png" width="400" /></a></div>A major source of Native American news has shut down, possibly for good, unless it can find a more sustainable business model to keep it going. On Sept. 4, Publisher Ray Halbritter announced that <b>Indian Country Today Media Network</b> was ceasing production, saying in <a href="https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/native-news/indian-country-today-media-network-cease-active-operations/">an editorial</a> that he and others in management were looking at "alternative business models." He&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/09/24/552328913/goodbye-for-now-to-a-vital-source-for-native-american-news?utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=politics&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_term=nprnews">told</a> <b>NPR</b>'s Leah Donnella that he is looking for ways to best repurpose the publication "in a way that's viable, both journalistically and economically."<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s66yV9L3skg/WckoGLA_weI/AAAAAAAABZA/YaIgnpppnE0zkGQqYytz84uvd1oyIDVPACLcBGAs/s1600/Ray%2BHalbritter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="272" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s66yV9L3skg/WckoGLA_weI/AAAAAAAABZA/YaIgnpppnE0zkGQqYytz84uvd1oyIDVPACLcBGAs/s200/Ray%2BHalbritter.JPG" width="155" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ray Halbritter</i></td></tr></tbody></table>Halbritter, the CEO of&nbsp;<b>Oneida Nation Enterprises</b>&nbsp;in New York state, bought the 30-year-old weekly paper in 2011 because he wanted to see more journalism by and about Native Americans. "In media, Native people are often looked at as relics or mascots," he told NPR. "And there's so much more complexity, so much more beauty. There's struggle and nuance to the Native American experience in this country. There was such a great need because the perception and image of Native people was very many times inaccurately portrayed, and as a result, the truth about Native people was not always presented."<br /><br />Relying on non-Native news outlets to report on Native Americans meant that important stories were often distorted or not told at all, Halbritter said. When Native Americans tell their own stories, he believes it helps readers to better understand their concerns.<br /><br />The publication extensively covered the latest studies on inter-generational trauma as well as the controversy surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline. He told NPR there's one topic he hopes will get more coverage, even if Indian Country Today won't be around to write about it: "The critical issue to me, for Native America, I mean, they have highest teenage suicide rate in the world on Indian reservations. And that comes from, to me, a lack of self-esteem. A lack of even having an understanding, or a perception, or an image about themselves to see any hope for the future."</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-82843577235329928412017-09-25T11:15:00.000-04:002017-09-25T11:23:56.005-04:00First came meetings, then Pruitt decisions for coal, utilities, Alaska mine and rural truck 'glider' firm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlmdHFSNwT0/WckcwSZ_9BI/AAAAAAAAR20/j06RBPE276A-ERID5Gr8DANnijoR17mkwCLcBGAs/s1600/ScottPruittAPcrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="320" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlmdHFSNwT0/WckcwSZ_9BI/AAAAAAAAR20/j06RBPE276A-ERID5Gr8DANnijoR17mkwCLcBGAs/s200/ScottPruittAPcrop.jpg" width="138" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scott Pruitt <i>(AP file photo)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>It's not surprising that corporate interests have found a friend in <b>Environmental Protection Agency </b>Administrator Scott Pruitt, but when a story lays out several possible cases of cause and effect, the concept gets more real.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Pruitt, former Oklahoma attorney general and Kentucky native, "has&nbsp;met regularly with corporate executives from the automobile, mining and fossil fuel industries — in several instances shortly before making decisions favorable to those interest groups, according to a copy of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/politics/epa-administrator-scott-pruitts-schedule-from-april-3-2017-to-sept-8-2017/2241/">his schedule</a>," report Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin of <b>The Washington Post</b>. "There were, by comparison, only two environmental groups and one public health group on the schedule, which covers the months of April through early September."</div><div><br /></div><div>After meeting with "the executive committee of the <b>National Mining Association</b>, and the next day with representatives of rural [electric] cooperatives, whose rural and suburban customers rely largely on aging coal plants . . . Pruitt granted an industry coalition’s request to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/14/epa-will-reconsider-obama-era-safeguards-on-coal-waste/?utm_term=.c1743dbf5b29">revisit a 2015 EPA rule</a> to tighten federal requirements for how companies contain coal ash, the toxic waste produced from burning coal in power plants. A range of the groups he met with this spring, including several of the nation’s largest coal-fired utilities, had sought the regulatory change," the Post reports.</div><div><br /></div><div>After meeting with "a Canadian firm that had been blocked by the agency in 2014 from building a massive gold, copper and molybdenum mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed" and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/12/obama-blocked-this-controversial-alaskan-gold-mine-trump-just-gave-it-new-life/?utm_term=.811188894b91">the two sides struck a legal settlement</a> that cleared the way for the firm to apply for federal permits for the operation," the Post reports.</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 0.5em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qd-fxcneiXI/WckeeXK2S4I/AAAAAAAAR24/EAvXwIKn3HgVcgLmC9CmjuAObjm2hAStwCLcBGAs/s1600/FitzgeraldMap.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="527" height="156" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qd-fxcneiXI/WckeeXK2S4I/AAAAAAAAR24/EAvXwIKn3HgVcgLmC9CmjuAObjm2hAStwCLcBGAs/s320/FitzgeraldMap.png" width="288" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Google</b> map</i></td></tr></tbody></table>After meeting "with <a href="http://www.eaton.com/Eaton/OurCompany/SuccessStories/VehicleTransportation/FitzgeraldTruckSales/index.htm"><b>Fitzgerald Truck Sales</b></a>, the nation’s largest manufacturer of commercial truck 'gliders,' which are truck bodies without an engine or transmission . . . Pruitt announced that he would <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-intent-revisit-provisions-phase-2-heavy-duty-rules">revisit an October 2016 decision</a> to apply greenhouse-gas emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks to gliders and trailers, saying he was making the decision following 'the significant issues' raised by those in the industry," the Post reports. Fitzgerald is based in Byrdstown, Tenn., in one of the nation's most rural areas.</div></div>Al Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12359789093150390148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-42104723893932665822017-09-25T11:05:00.006-04:002017-09-25T12:27:04.503-04:00Carbon-fiber manufacturing could boost coal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zf4CVAvD-AA/WckYPI4vIWI/AAAAAAAABYo/5GtQ7byF5Zkts2daKQiC1mWFMxNi09OWACLcBGAs/s1600/3D%2Bprinted%2Bcarbon%2Bfiber%2Bsubmersible%2Bus%2Bdept%2Bof%2Benergy%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="1100" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zf4CVAvD-AA/WckYPI4vIWI/AAAAAAAABYo/5GtQ7byF5Zkts2daKQiC1mWFMxNi09OWACLcBGAs/s400/3D%2Bprinted%2Bcarbon%2Bfiber%2Bsubmersible%2Bus%2Bdept%2Bof%2Benergy%2Bphoto.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 3-D printed, carbon-fiber submersible made mostly from coal. <i>(<b>Dept. of Energy </b>photo)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>As more utilities switch from coal to cheaper, cleaner energy sources, America's huge coal reserves are increasingly untapped. But scientists are experimenting with new uses for coal, and while "no one expects the research to revive all the coal-mining jobs that disappeared in recent years, experts say new sources of demand are emerging for the carbon-rich rock, from battery electrodes to car parts to building materials," Tim Loh and Patrick Martin <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-13/-beautiful-coal-seeks-new-life-as-carbon-fiber-for-submarines">report</a> for <b>Bloomberg</b>.<br /><br />Probably the biggest potential use for coal right now is in creating carbon fiber, a stiff, strong, and ultra-lightweight material that has been widely used for aircraft and other items for years. The lion's share of most carbon fiber is made from a polymer resin called polyacrylonitrile, with a dash of petroleum pitch. But Mitsubishi has used coal for decades to create carbon fiber, so it's possible to change the formula to be mostly coal.<br /><br />At the <b>Oak Ridge National Laboratory</b> in Tennessee, researchers used coal and a 3-D printer to create a 30-foot-long submersible to show what carbon fiber made from coal can do. "At the Oak Ridge lab, the 3-D printing techniques for the carbon-fiber sub hull helped reduce production <a href="https://energy.gov/eere/articles/navy-partnership-goes-new-depths-first-3d-printed-submersible" itemprop="StoryLink" itemscope="itemscope" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" title="link">costs</a> by 90 percent and shortened manufacturing time from months to days, according to the <b>Department of Energy</b>. Improved design and building techniques encourage more use of carbon fibers, which could increasingly come from coal," Loh and Martin report.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mNIisnFKbvc/WckYfVYoTNI/AAAAAAAABYs/4dRLGsP-fPkbaPnUwLtuCz2oOwz58yQCACLcBGAs/s1600/coal%2Bvs%2Bother%2Benergy%2Bsources%2Bchart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="800" height="215" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mNIisnFKbvc/WckYfVYoTNI/AAAAAAAABYs/4dRLGsP-fPkbaPnUwLtuCz2oOwz58yQCACLcBGAs/s400/coal%2Bvs%2Bother%2Benergy%2Bsources%2Bchart.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bloomberg graphic; click to enlarge</i></td></tr></tbody></table>Most of America's coal is still used for electricity, but it's in decline. Coal accounts for 30 percent of the power mix used by utilities today, down from 50 percent in 2008. Correspondingly, the number of miners in the U.S. fell 40 percent to about 50,000 in the same time period. Oak Ridge researcher Edgar Lara-Curzio says "Coal for power generation is going to continue to decrease. Here is a chance for us to pay back all these coal communities that have sacrificed for so many years to give us cheap electricity."</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-56964495148882176512017-09-25T10:45:00.000-04:002017-09-25T12:25:33.333-04:00Experts to hold Twitter chat on rural opioid use<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>The Rural Health Information Hub</b> will host a Twitter chat Sept. 28 to discuss opioid use in rural areas, the barriers to receiving effective treatment, and explore some of the innovative ways rural communities are fighting back.<br /><br />The chat will go for about 60 minutes and will begin at 2 p.m. EDT. To participate, log in to Twitter or a Twitter chat client such as <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwigwPa8wMDWAhVDySYKHboyCh4QFggoMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ftweetchat.com%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNHkd2hD02Gl7iBmFf_tEziWnLj7Ig">TweetChat</a> and search for the hashtag #RuralHealthChat. Experts from around the country will discuss the issue, and everyone is free to jump in with comments, questions, or links to more information.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/twitter-chats/opioid-use?utm_source=racupdate&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=update092017">Click here</a> for a list of the experts who will be participating in the chat, or for more information in general.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-22386575247049916562017-09-24T14:13:00.000-04:002017-09-24T14:17:13.967-04:00Chao says Trump infrastructure plan will direct 'about 25 percent' of resources toward rural areas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" scrolling="no" src="https://www.ket.org/embedded/KCWRS+001304/" width="400"></iframe><br />Rural America will be the focus of about one-fourth of the Trump administration's infrastructure package, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Sunday on "<a href="https://www.ket.org/episode/KCWRS+001304/" target="_blank">Connections with Renee Shaw</a>" on <b>Kentucky Educational Television.</b><br /><div><br /></div>"I'm a Kentuckian; I understand rural America," said Chao, a Taiwan native who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "What concerns rural America concerns me, especially as a Kentuckian."<br /><br />McConnell <a href="https://irjci.blogspot.com/2017/03/administration-lists-top-50.html" target="_blank">told</a> The Rural Blog in March that the Republican-controlled Congress isn't interested in adding to the national debt at a time when the federal budget is deeply in deficit, so the infrastructure plan is expected to rely mainly on public-private partnerships. That has cast doubt on its rural impact, since most rural projects don't have the usage that can generate tolls or other revenue to make them as profitable as urban projects.<br /><br />Chao said the plan will include "a separate title that addresses the concerns of rural America. We will have about 25 percent of all resources directed toward rural America."<br /><br />Asked about President Trump's criticism of her husband for not passing a health-insurance bill and refusing to kill Senate filibusters, Chao said, "We're all professionals. That's an old story. Everything's fine now."</div>Al Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12359789093150390148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-46874594164276674892017-09-22T11:50:00.000-04:002017-09-24T16:51:28.673-04:00Rural hospitals alarmed at Graham-Cassidy bill; interactive map shows Medicaid impact by county<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>UPDATE, 2:08 p.m.: </i>Arizona Sen. John McCain announced that he would vote against the Graham-Cassidy bill, dealing it "a potentially decisive blow," <b>The Washington Post</b> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/22/mccain-says-he-will-vote-no-on-cassidy-graham-bill-dealing-potentially-decisive-blow-to-the-health-care-repeal-effort/?utm_term=.f7f20ac393b8" target="_blank">reports</a>. That puts the focus on Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the other Republicans who voted against the last bill, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who voted for it but says he will oppose this one.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HuyUSNGeEl4/WcUzVoIRR6I/AAAAAAAAR0U/_DKkeq2L-E4oaGrmW2ar12QOLBPtRFmcgCLcBGAs/s1600/Hospitalclosures.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="882" height="243" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HuyUSNGeEl4/WcUzVoIRR6I/AAAAAAAAR0U/_DKkeq2L-E4oaGrmW2ar12QOLBPtRFmcgCLcBGAs/s400/Hospitalclosures.png" width="400" /></a></div>"Leaders of cash-strapped rural hospitals worry that the latest proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act could destroy them," Dave Barkholz <a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20170921/NEWS/170929967?utm_source=modernhealthcare&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=20170921-NEWS-170929967&amp;utm_campaign=dose">reports</a> for <b>Modern Healthcare</b>. Many rural hospitals are already on the ropes. "Of the nation's 1,160 rural hospitals, 41 percent are operating at a financial loss. Eighty-two have already closed since 2010. And one in three of the survivors is considered at risk of closing," Barkholz reports.<br /><br />"If you want to watch a rural community die, kill its hospital," Lauren Weber and Andy Miller <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rural-hospitals-closure-georgia_us_59c02bf4e4b087fdf5075e38" target="_blank">report</a> for the <b>Huffington Post</b> from three counties in rural Georgia that are struggling to keep their hospitals alive. Georgia is one of the 15 states that did not expand Medicaid under the ACA, which has generally boosted rural hospitals elsewhere. The bill would end the Medicaid expansion in 2020. Because rural areas have far higher rates of Medicaid patients, rural hospitals would be disproportionately hurt and many might have to close. <b>The Daily Yonder</b> <a href="http://www.dailyyonder.com/healthcare-repeal-bill-hits-rural-medicaid/2017/09/22/21481/" target="_blank">reports</a> on an analysis of that by <b>Headwaters Economics</b>, which includes <a href="https://tableau.headwaterseconomics.org/views/NonLabor2017/MedicaidViz?:isGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y&amp;:embed=y" target="_blank">an interactive map</a> showing how much of each county's personal income is Medicaid benefits. Here's a screenshot of the version showing counties at 10 percent or more&nbsp;<i>(click image for larger version)</i>:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uo6zmqDvSJc/WcVNAbOlJSI/AAAAAAAAR0k/dp1oTlwUfboCxvHn_eXlEfCRvjjXn18ewCLcBGAs/s1600/Medicaidreliantcounties.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="916" height="257" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uo6zmqDvSJc/WcVNAbOlJSI/AAAAAAAAR0k/dp1oTlwUfboCxvHn_eXlEfCRvjjXn18ewCLcBGAs/s400/Medicaidreliantcounties.png" width="400" /></a></div>The bill also doesn't address the federal cost-sharing subsidies that help insurers offer cheaper plans for people with low incomes. President Trump has threatened to withhold those payments, sparking concern -- and withdrawal from rural markets -- by many insurers. Maggie Elehwany, vice president of governmental affairs at the <b>National Rural Health Association</b>, said that rural hospitals would be hit especially hard by legislation that "increases the uninsured, boosts deductibles for patients or threatens already shrinking Medicare payments."<br /><br />Under the Graham-Cassidy bill, the individual and employer insurance mandates would be repealed, states would be given more leeway to change rules, and nearly $1.2 trillion in ACA subsidies would be distributed to states through block grants. "If state block grants end up cutting funding to health care, patients who can afford insurance may end up with higher deductibles, leaving hospitals struggling to collect payments," said Megan Neuberger, team head for health care at <b>Fitch U.S. Corporate Ratings</b>.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-14562679339712245482017-09-22T11:22:00.001-04:002017-09-22T11:22:51.140-04:00EPA inspector general says agency has failed for 11 years to set standards on animal feeding operations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DdGheak2wIY/WcUqBzCPcXI/AAAAAAAAR0E/shocZqpg1JsQAo8nCAIVCZ1L8nszYFiAgCLcBGAs/s1600/CAFOviaMeetingLunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="500" height="255" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DdGheak2wIY/WcUqBzCPcXI/AAAAAAAAR0E/shocZqpg1JsQAo8nCAIVCZ1L8nszYFiAgCLcBGAs/s400/CAFOviaMeetingLunch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo of large cattle feedlot from MeetingLunch.WordPress.com</i></td></tr></tbody></table>Arthur Elkins, the <b>Environmental Protection Agency</b>'s auditor general, just released a <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/09/20/document_gw_11.pdf">report</a> slamming the agency for not keeping tabs on emissions from large-scale animal feedlots, as it promised to do 11 years ago. EPA was supposed to publish reliable methods of estimating pollutants from feedlots, but didn't. Without that yardstick, feedlots can't provide meaningful data on their output of ammonia and other pollutants. And because the EPA doesn't have that data, it can't decide whether to put pollution controls in place or report the feedlots to emergency responders if the pollution is an immediate threat.<br /><br />"Until EPA officials finish work on the estimating methods, they are refusing to act on citizen petitions to regulate emissions from animal feeding operations . . . on the grounds that the methods "are needed to inform the agency's decision-making," the report said," Sean Reilly <a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060061233">reports</a> for <b>Environment &amp; Energy News</b>. Meanwhile, pollution has continued during the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and the acronym for animal feeding operations has evolved to "AFOs," dropping the "C" that stands for "confined" or "concentrated."<br /><br />Large feedlots can generate air pollution from decaying manure and animal feed, but figuring out a straightforward way to measure that pollution can be tricky. EPA said in 2005 that it would use data from an industry-funded study to develop methods to estimate emissions. The agency was hoping to publish the methods in 2009, but the timetable was "wildly optimistic," Reilly writes. "The industry monitoring study took two years longer than originally expected; EPA had also not accounted for the time needed to get approval from an in-house board for agreements to protect individual producers from lawsuits or other enforcement actions for alleged violations until the new system was in place. Yet another hang-up emerged when EPA's Science Advisory Board, a body of independent experts, found in 2013 that a draft version of the estimating methods for some pollutants and sources wouldn't provide an accurate gauge of overall emissions. The board urged more work. Since then, the entire enterprise has essentially been dead in the water, the inspector general's report suggested."<br /><br />Lack of inertia and the retirement of key members of the project means the effort has also suffered from lack of expertise in "agricultural emissions, air quality and statistical analysis," the report said. Acting EPA air chief Sarah Dunham said she agreed with the report and said the agency plans to announce in the spring a schedule for issuing the new estimating methods. </div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-33372294420229103532017-09-22T10:12:00.004-04:002017-09-22T11:08:26.072-04:00Rural Mainstreet Index at lowest level since Dec. 2016; half of bankers have restructured farm loans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The latest monthly&nbsp;<b><a href="https://www.creighton.edu/economicoutlook/mainstreeteconomy/" target="_blank">Rural Mainstreet Index</a></b>&nbsp;indicates a drop in the financial situations of farmers in a 10-state region where agriculture and energy are critical to the economy, "sinking to the lowest level since December 2016," <b>AgWeb</b>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.agweb.com/article/rural-mainstreet-index-slips-to-lowest-level-since-2016-naa-tyne-morgan/">reports</a>. "The index remained below growth neutral, a sign that shows financial pressure continues to prevail on farms and ranches." The RMI is calculated by Omaha's&nbsp;<b>Creighton University</b> by surveying rural bank CEOs in&nbsp;Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming and the Dakotas.; more than half of the bankers reported that they have restructured farmers' loans.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FofkU3C8grE/WcUYZHO8E1I/AAAAAAAABXw/or7OzcK_xJw9EPBiYalY6QgEtUvpBGzUwCLcBGAs/s1600/9-17%2Brural%2Bmainstreet%2Bindex%2Btable%2B1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="972" height="167" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FofkU3C8grE/WcUYZHO8E1I/AAAAAAAABXw/or7OzcK_xJw9EPBiYalY6QgEtUvpBGzUwCLcBGAs/s400/9-17%2Brural%2Bmainstreet%2Bindex%2Btable%2B1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Creighton University graphic; click on it to view a larger version.</i></td></tr></tbody></table>The 2017 corn crop looks to have the third-highest yield ever at 170 bushels per acre, but drought is sapping yields of other crops. Scarcity often drives up prices, but that's not happening this time due to a ready supply of commodities on the global market. That is keeping American farmers from rallying, said Ernie Goss, who does the RMI: "A lot of farmers have grain in the bins. If prices go up, you get some unloading that sort of limits any growth until we get rid of that old-crop corn." A weakened dollar could help American crops look more attractive to international buyers in the long run, but for now farmers are still struggling.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IrqdvCHsltE/WcUZJOwR88I/AAAAAAAABX4/w6okVUF0250qYLFDXrLjeuP4-qQAT7OjQCLcBGAs/s1600/9-17%2Brural%2Bmainstreet%2Bindex%2Btable%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="832" height="195" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IrqdvCHsltE/WcUZJOwR88I/AAAAAAAABX4/w6okVUF0250qYLFDXrLjeuP4-qQAT7OjQCLcBGAs/s400/9-17%2Brural%2Bmainstreet%2Bindex%2Btable%2B2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Creighton University graphic; click on it to view a larger version.</i></td></tr></tbody></table>The financial stress is reflected in the RMI's figures on farm loans: "51.2 percent of bank CEOs reported restructuring farm loans; 18.6 percent of that same group also indicated they had to increase collateral requirements," AgWeb notes. Farm loan delinquencies are up 4.1 percent too. The good news is that despite four straight years of declining farm income, farm loan defaults only increased 2.1 percent this past year.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-56537214762437554122017-09-22T10:00:00.000-04:002017-09-22T11:48:40.274-04:00Broadcast meteorologists can play a big role in educating the public about climate change<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hUSR4ofwYIY/WcUuRuVQvfI/AAAAAAAABYI/UgFE5mOxwdojC0McN6fI0bSgepp6-irAACLcBGAs/s1600/satellite%2Bhurricane%2Bharvey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1310" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hUSR4ofwYIY/WcUuRuVQvfI/AAAAAAAABYI/UgFE5mOxwdojC0McN6fI0bSgepp6-irAACLcBGAs/s400/satellite%2Bhurricane%2Bharvey.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hurricane Harvey, from International Space Station. <i>(Photo by Randy Bresnik, NASA</i>)</td></tr></tbody></table>A broad consensus of scientists <a href="https://weather.com/science/environment/news/climate-change-hurricanes-wildfires-heat-waves-global-warming">agree</a> that the extreme weather of recent years--hurricanes, flooding, heat waves and wildfires--is somehow related to climate change, but broadcast meteorologists are often reluctant to talk about it on the air, and some are outright skeptical of the science. "The reasons are complicated, ranging from what meteorologists are taught in college to not wanting to upset their viewers. But they are increasingly changing. I’ve spoken to many former colleagues who want to start having these conversations on air and doing what they can to inform the public about the issue," Sean Sublette <a href="https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2017/9/19/16316240/hurricane-irma-harvey-tv-weather-forecast">writes</a> for <b>Vox</b>.<br /><br />Sublette writes that he worked for 19 years as a TV weathernan in the Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va., market, and became more and more concerned about climate change as he learned more about it. In 2013, when he was chief meteorologist at the local ABC affiliate, he decided it was time to "speak up about how our planet was changing. This was science, not policy," he writes. He worried that his audience might not want to hear it, but he believed it was important. So, one evening he discussed recent scientific findings about the rising average global temperature and sea levels, and said that they were primarily a result of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels. He posted a blog item sharing the same facts. Then he sat back and waited for the storm. To his surprise, it never came. "No hate mail came; no fussing from my news managers ensued," he writes. He received one comment on his blog post that said, "I don't really like the news, but people need to hear it." He still had to be careful not to go too far to repel his conservative viewers, but he began more confidently including facts about climate change in his broadcasts.<br /><br />That experience helped him realize other meteorologists might need help talking about climate change on the air. They're in a unique position of influence: "For much of the public, meteorologists are the only scientists people see on a daily basis, so they have a unique position in the media landscape. Talking about climate change from that position could make a real difference in how the public discusses climate change and its solutions. It’s something we increasingly have a responsibility to do," Sublette writes. These days he works for the nonprofit <b>Climate Central's </b>Climate Matters program, which helps broadcast meteorologists talk about climate change with the public.<br /><br />As the public continues to ask questions and learn about climate change, Sublette says he hopes weathercasters will keep talking about it. "Broadcast meteorologists are some of the most qualified people in the media to discuss the subject and are the liaison between the public and the research-based scientific community. Increasingly they are stepping up, and we hope to see it continue."</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-69959986378200698322017-09-22T09:33:00.000-04:002017-09-22T12:29:07.761-04:00Quick hits: Smarter rural narrative needed; a vision for rural prosperity; FCC chair talks broadband . . . <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email The Rural Blog at <a href="mailto:heather.chapman@uky.edu">heather.chapman@uky.edu</a>.<br /><br /><b>The Washington Post</b>'s Chris Ingraham <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/14/think-rural-areas-are-falling-behind-think-again/?utm_term=.6c16dcf4d259">says</a> the recent narrative about rural America is dominated by despair, but raw data doesn't tell us everything, and we need to take a smarter and more nuanced look at rural life. He should know: in early 2016 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/23/what-life-is-really-like-in-americas-worst-place-to-live/?utm_term=.f4fdd62b9b81">Ingraham moved</a> to Red Lake Falls, Minn., pop. 4,057, after an "intense and exceedingly polite" backlash to the story he wrote about how it was the worst place in America to live. Suffice it to say, he's changed his mind on that point.<br /><br />The mayor of Charles City, Iowa,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2017/09/21/iowa-mayor-offers-vision-rural-prosperity/688419001/">shares a detailed vision</a> for rural prosperity in <b>The Des Moines Register</b>. Among his ideas are eliminating unfunded mandates, develop a universal preschool program and make day care affordable, and better meet the needs of senior citizens.<b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><b>Federal Communications Commission</b> Chair Ajit Pai in West Plains, Mo., joined a roundtable about bringing broadband service to rural areas, the <b>West Plains Daily&nbsp;</b><a href="https://www.westplainsdailyquill.net/features/business/article_1dfdb584-9e55-11e7-ad88-ab0ac0faf048.html">reports</a>. Pai, who grew up in rural Parsons, Kan., says he believes loosening federal regulations is the key to making widespread rural broadband a reality.<br /><br />Two Knoxville nurse practitioners tell <b>NPR</b>'s <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/09/15/550969381/how-two-nurses-decided-to-help-babies-touched-by-opioid-crisis">StoryCorps</a> about how they established one of the first treatment protocols in the nation for babies born addicted to opioids. They also established a program that connects opioid-addicted mothers with treatment and therapy.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-56832487622355572352017-09-21T11:38:00.001-04:002017-09-22T11:27:44.380-04:00Charts predict how your state's federal health-care funding would change under last-ditch repeal plan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">How would your state fare under Senate Republicans' last-ditch bill to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which could pass Congress next week? The <b>Kaiser Family Foundation </b>has some figures, and so does <b>The New York Times</b>. <i>UPDATE, Sept. 21: The Trump administration released its state-by-state estimates. "The predicted loss is less than that forecast by three independent analyses of the bill’s impact in recent days, but the internal numbers show a similar checkerboard of states that would be big winners and equally big losers," <b>The Washington Post </b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/medicaid-expansion-states-to-lose-180-billion-under-cassidy-graham-plan-new-report-says/2017/09/21/45c80026-9ecb-11e7-9083-fbfddf6804c2_story.html?utm_term=.d5d93c6fe0c9&amp;wpisrc=nl_daily202&amp;wpmm=1" target="_blank">reports</a>.</i><br /><br />Kaiser says in a Sept. 20 report that the <a href="http://www.kff.org/interactive/proposals-to-replace-the-affordable-care-act/" target="_blank">Graham-Cassidy proposal</a> would:<br /><ul><li>Repeal the Medicaid expansion and subsidies for individual insurance—including premium tax credits, cost-sharing reductions, and the basic health program—in 2020.</li><li>Put the money into a new block-grant program to states in 2020-26. States could use the funds "to cover the cost of high-risk patients, assist individuals with premiums and cost-sharing, pay directly for health care services, or provide health insurance to a limited extent to people eligible for Medicaid," Kaiser reports.</li><li>Cap state-by-state federal funding of the traditional Medicaid program for the poor and disabled.</li><li>Repeal the mandates requiring individuals to have health insurance and employers to offer it, and let states waive required benefits and community rating, which prevents insurers from charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions.</li></ul>The changes would reward the 15 states, controlled by Republicans, that did not expand Medicaid to people in households with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty threshold. Kaiser explains the complex formula and reduces its effect to a simple chart:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cvM-nls-HOY/WcPZ4thYcNI/AAAAAAAARzg/kKprszaZ8tcUE5pVrJYM6vh89LviVucNgCLcBGAs/s1600/Graham-Cassidy%2Bspending%2Bchanges.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cvM-nls-HOY/WcPZ4thYcNI/AAAAAAAARzg/kKprszaZ8tcUE5pVrJYM6vh89LviVucNgCLcBGAs/s400/Graham-Cassidy%2Bspending%2Bchanges.png" width="400" /></a></div>State by state, Kaiser defines the extremes: "Five states would see a reduction in federal funds of 30% or more from 2020 to 2026: New York (-35%), Oregon (-32%), Connecticut (-31%), Vermont (-31%), and Minnesota (-30%). Six states would see at least 40% more in federal funds under the proposal: Tennessee (44%), South Dakota (45%), Georgia (46%), Kansas (61%), Texas (75%), and Mississippi (148%). . . .&nbsp;Because actual state allotments under the block grant may vary based on state-specific factors and the secretary’s authority to further adjust the formula, actual state experiences under the block grant may differ. It is uncertain how additional adjustments would be used to alter states’ allotments up or down."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/state-by-state-estimates-of-changes-in-federal-spending-on-health-care-under-the-graham-cassidy-bill/?utm_campaign=KFF-2017-sept-21-GrahamCassidy-state-analysis&amp;utm_source=hs_email&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=56569375&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8WFUaWaXhaDlJKSPiaXHTbIHW-Pb12pAqKEIrXUlWLP7ktQ9UteqY_1m44S5Hx-1PSLmOgBpHXIKpt92DNJi6gSzudSA&amp;_hsmi=56569375" target="_blank">Kaiser's report</a> has three state-by-state tables, showing the projected differences in federal spending for ACA coverage, the total change in federal spending due to the block-grant program and the limit on Medicaid; and the projected loss of federal funds due to those factors.<br /><br />The New York Times showed the funding changes per person, in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/19/us/blue-states-lose-republican-health-plan.html?_r=0" target="_blank">charts</a> that were color-coded: first by states that expanded Medicaid (in green), then by states (in orange) with senators who voted against one of the Obamacare repeal bills in July:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YetdFPkkubI/WcPcCeTXeZI/AAAAAAAARz0/XoBQFMg_HLEnUzhsCUrRDWaauAGjA71SQCLcBGAs/s1600/Graham-Cassidy%2Bcuts%2Bby%2BMed%2Bexpan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="609" height="520" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YetdFPkkubI/WcPcCeTXeZI/AAAAAAAARz0/XoBQFMg_HLEnUzhsCUrRDWaauAGjA71SQCLcBGAs/s640/Graham-Cassidy%2Bcuts%2Bby%2BMed%2Bexpan.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2NqMv-mWBY8/WcPbe0HvT5I/AAAAAAAARzs/ngySfJ1-l2AJjQ80ZenYDAVc__MiHwaMgCLcBGAs/s1600/Graham-Cassidy%2Bcuts%2Bby%2Bvotes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="567" height="522" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2NqMv-mWBY8/WcPbe0HvT5I/AAAAAAAARzs/ngySfJ1-l2AJjQ80ZenYDAVc__MiHwaMgCLcBGAs/s640/Graham-Cassidy%2Bcuts%2Bby%2Bvotes.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div>Al Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12359789093150390148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-32233293026252956892017-09-21T11:37:00.000-04:002017-09-21T16:32:45.682-04:00How Wisconsonites (and probably people in other states) commute across the rural-urban spectrum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">We're used to thinking about populations as either rural or urban, or, if pressed, suburban and small-town too. But new research from the <b>University of Wisconsin </b>Applied Population Laboratory examines how seven types of communities on the rural-urban continuum are connected by the people who commute from one to the other for work. "Every day, many residents of big cities, small towns and the countryside alike travel between their homes and workplaces, sometimes within their own community, and other times traveling over long distances to places that are far apart. Their commuting patterns can help shed light on the ways these places are alike and distinct in terms of their economies and identities," Malia Jones <a href="https://www.wiscontext.org/how-wisconsinites-commute-across-urban-rural-spectrum">reports</a> for <b>WisContext</b>, a multimedia news and information project funded by the university. The patterns found in Wisconsin are likely echoed in other states as well.<br /><br />Deciding whether a community is rural or urban can be complicated, so the Applied Population Lab used the <b>Department of Agriculture</b>'s <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-commuting-area-codes/">Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes</a>, which divide populations into seven categories along the rural-urban spectrum, based on census data. The results of the research can be seen on this breathtaking chord diagram (<a href="https://www.wiscontext.org/how-wisconsinites-commute-across-urban-rural-spectrum">click here</a> to use the interactive version):<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XSrd3m-sD0w/WcPmkhyPmlI/AAAAAAAABXY/hLtfKb-mAp4RB8DJhSF08ketPwUpm8m1ACLcBGAs/s1600/wisconsin%2Brural%2Burban%2Bcommute.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="787" height="444" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XSrd3m-sD0w/WcPmkhyPmlI/AAAAAAAABXY/hLtfKb-mAp4RB8DJhSF08ketPwUpm8m1ACLcBGAs/s400/wisconsin%2Brural%2Burban%2Bcommute.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Static image of interactive map by Caitlin McKown of WisContext</b><br /><i>Click on the image to enlarge it; <a href="https://www.wiscontext.org/how-wisconsinites-commute-across-urban-rural-spectrum">click here</a>&nbsp;for the interactive version.</i></td></tr></tbody></table>Most commuters are heading for cities, which is unsurprising, but is interesting to see quantified. And it has broader implications: "People who live in one place but work in another routinely access goods and services and make social connections across both. For example, commuters from isolated rural places may not have access to a grocery store near their home, but may have better access to one near their place of work. The lack of reliable grocery stores in sparsely settled areas is a type of <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/" target="_blank">food desert</a>. This problem arises in part because many grocery stores depend on a large number of customers, which can be hard to attract in rural places where there are fewer people per square mile. For commuters from rural places, shopping at a market near work not only offers improved food options, but also creates an economic bond across places as these businesses depend on far-flung customers for their revenue," Jones reports.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-75486167291907367472017-09-21T11:34:00.001-04:002017-09-21T11:55:39.977-04:00Probe finds postal workers delayed lots of mail, then badly under-reported the delays<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Weekly newspaper publishers have noticed that deliveries outside their home counties have slowed. Now an investigation by the <b>Postal Service</b>'s <b>Office of Inspector General</b> found that postal workers deliberately slowed the delivery of more than 2 billion mailed items in the year studied. It said workers also manipulated delivery records and inaccurately reported delays.<br /><br />The eight processing facilities examined "had about 1.8 million late arriving mailpieces during the week of our observations; however, the facilities only included 121,000 of them (or less than 7 percent)" in their mail-condition reports, the OIG said in the&nbsp;<a href="https://uspsoig.gov/document/delayed-mail-validation">report</a>. The centers were chosen "based on changes in their delayed mail reported" from fiscal year 2014 to 2016: Brooklyn, Dallas, Greenville, S.C.; Louisville; Mobile; Omaha; Southern Maryland; and South Suburban, a Chicago center.<br /><div><br /></div>Some employees said they delayed mail so workers on a slow shift would have something to do. "<a href="https://uspsoig.gov/document/delayed-mail-validation" target="_blank">Investigators discovered</a> more than 572,000 delayed mail items on land. However, postal officials were only reporting 369,000 delays, essentially hiding 36 percent of the problem," Larry Mayer <a href="http://billingsgazette.com/news/tester-wants-firings-after-postal-workers-accused-of-delaying-mail/article_a45b76b0-a02b-52d5-9a75-71fe8ce8fd72.html">reports</a> for <b>The Billings Gazette</b>.<br /><br />The Postal Service has struggled in recent years, with mail volume decreasing as online activity increases. And Congress has required it to set aside $5.5 billion a year to pre-fund health benefits for future employees, resulting in cuts to staffing and service. "USPS is the only government agency expected to pay for benefits decades in advance, and the cost burden has resulted in cuts to staffing and service," Mayer reports. That can mean even slower delivery times for mail, especially in rural areas.<br /><br />The day the report was released, Sen. John Tester, D-Mont., called for those responsible to be fired. Tester is on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees, which handle Postal Service issues. "Any employee who deliberately delayed mail delivery, or who knowingly misreported mail delivery should be terminated for violating the trust of America’s hardworking taxpayers and postal ratepayers," he said.<br /><br /></div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-22036103301295310982017-09-21T11:32:00.000-04:002017-09-21T12:34:26.099-04:00Wireless or a hybrid with fiber-optic cable may help solve the rural broadband problem<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Bringing high-speed internet service to people in far-flung rural areas is an ongoing problem, but a rural Minnesota county may have an interesting solution: a hybrid model that combines fiber-optic cables with wireless. And some wireless internet providers are already helping bridge the rural-urban broadband gap.<br /><br />The problem is mainly the cost of laying the fiber. Telecommunications companies can lay a main line to a community, but rural counties can't usually afford to lay individual lines to homes that may be miles apart from the nearest neighbors. State and federal grants can help, but only go so far. This "last mile" problem is the kicker.<br /><br />In Minnesota's Yellow Medicine County, a recent study estimated that laying fiber to 1,862 rural homes would cost $22 million. But <b>Finley Engineering</b>, which conducted the study, said using a wireless and fiber hybrid would cost only $5 million. "The hybrid proposal in Yellow Medicine County calls for laying a 52-mile fiber optic line to serve as a backbone to connect a string of towers to cover the rural areas. That compares to the 955 miles of fiber optic cable needed for a fiber-only option," Tom Cherveny <a href="http://www.govtech.com/network/Wireless-May-Help-to-Answer-Rural-Minnesotas-Call-for-Internet.html">reports</a> for <b>West Central Tribune</b> in Willmar, Minn.<br /><br />Would wireless internet in Yellow Medicine be as fast as broadband? Maybe, says Dan Richter, president of area provider <b>MVTV Wireless</b>. But he says providers in the region are improving internet speeds as economic conditions allow, Cherveny reports. Richter says MVTV will urge a county-appointed task force to consider the hybrid model as a solution.<br /><br />Craig Settles <a href="http://www.dailyyonder.com/broadband-analysis-scrappy-wireless-isps-get-job-done/2017/09/14/21367/">reports</a> for <b>The Daily Yonder </b>that more than 3,000 wireless internet service providers&nbsp;use fixed wireless technology, in which transmitters boost and relay data back and forth from homes to a fiber-optic source. "Each one [is] usually run by a handful of people who do everything: engineering design, hanging routers, marketing, customer service, and tech support. Some WISPs are integrating fiber technology into hybrid systems that use both wireless and wired communications technology," Settles reports. And though the speed provided by WISPs isn't as fast as cable broadband, it's probably plenty fast enough for most families, according to Jimmy Carr, CEO of fixed wireless company <b>All Points Broadband</b>.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-56653211280929704802017-09-21T10:22:00.002-04:002017-09-21T12:12:22.096-04:00Webinar next Tuesday will showcase new toolkit for rural tobacco control and prevention<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Tune in for a free webinar from 2-3 p.m. ET on Sept. 26 to discuss the new <a href="https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/community-health/tobacco">Rural Tobacco Control and Prevention Toolkit</a>, just released by the <b>Federal Office of Rural Health Policy</b>. The toolkit provides "evidence-based examples, promising models, best practices, and resources" that rural organizations can use to implement smoking cessation and prevention program. Such programs are important because rural Americans are <a href="https://irjci.blogspot.com/2017/07/rural-americans-are-less-likely-to-get.html">more likely</a> to get--and die from--cancers related to tobacco use.<br /><br />The webinar is presented by the <b>Rural Health Information Hub</b> and a research organization at the <b>University of Chicago</b>, which developed the toolkit for the government. A recording will be available on the website afterward. <a href="https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/webinars/tobacco-control-prevention?utm_source=racupdate&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=update092017">Click here</a> to learn more or register.</div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-88441552611006208852017-09-20T12:27:00.004-04:002017-09-20T12:27:05.976-04:00First dataset from all states shows veterans' suicides are highest in the West and rural areas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a67juxPbv_w/WcKVzytogmI/AAAAAAAARyc/NoGLDVRZq0AOVZw01T0zuAUUle09stXNQCLcBGAs/s1600/VeteranSuicidebyState.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="528" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a67juxPbv_w/WcKVzytogmI/AAAAAAAARyc/NoGLDVRZq0AOVZw01T0zuAUUle09stXNQCLcBGAs/s400/VeteranSuicidebyState.jpg" width="245" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Chart based on partial report issued in 2012</b><br /><i>(Click on the image to view a larger version)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>Military veterans living in the Western U.S. and rural America are much more likely to die by suicide, possibly because of contributing factors like social isolation, gun ownership, opioid addiction and access to health care, according to the first 50-state <b>Department of Veterans Affairs </b>data on suicide, Hope Yen <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/va-data-show-veteran-suicide-highest-us-west-49883413">reports</a> for <b>ABC News: </b>"It shows Montana, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico had the highest rates of veteran suicide as of 2014, the most current VA data available. Veterans in big chunks of those states must drive 70 miles or more to reach the nearest VA medical center." West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky have high suicide rates as well as higher rates of opioid prescriptions.<br /><br />The study also breaks down gender and age disparities: female veterans are two and a half times more likely to die by suicide than their civilian counterparts. Male veterans are 19 percent more likely. Veterans 50 or older account for about 65 percent of veteran suicides.<br /><br />The problem is nationwide. Rajeev Ramchard, an epidemiologist who studies suicide for the <b>RAND Corp</b>, told Yen that veterans in every state are at least one and a half times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. He pointed out that 70 percent of veterans who take their lives had not been connected to VA health care. "These findings are deeply concerning, which is why I made suicide prevention my top clinical priority," VA Secretary David Shulkin told ABC. "This is a national public health issue."<br /><br />"Shulkin, who has worked to provide same-day mental health care at VA medical centers, recently expanded emergency mental care to veterans with other than honorable discharges," Yen reports. "The department is also boosting its suicide hotline and expanding telehealth options." Expanding private-sector care and stemming veterans' suicide are priorities of President Trump. In a statement this week as part of Suicide Prevention Month, he said the U.S. 'must do more' to help mentally troubled veterans. </div>Heather Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704934737688716772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-26449691802665007312017-09-20T12:02:00.002-04:002017-09-20T12:06:53.121-04:00Mississippi journalists accept reporting awards<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_Y-G1gdzXfY/WcKNSl5ThDI/AAAAAAAARyM/bUGTFrBNqCEz8ZRiU6IcxsZRaKPiJ1lBACLcBGAs/s1600/MinorPrizepanel2017crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="1161" height="250" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_Y-G1gdzXfY/WcKNSl5ThDI/AAAAAAAARyM/bUGTFrBNqCEz8ZRiU6IcxsZRaKPiJ1lBACLcBGAs/s400/MinorPrizepanel2017crop.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">Discussing the work that won them the Bill Minor Prize with moderator Rick Cleveland (from left) are Jerry Mitchell of The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger, Ray Mosby and Natalie Perkins of the Deer Creek Pilot, Jamie Patterson of The Yazoo Herald and Tim Kalich of The Greenwood Commonwealth. <i>(Photo by Layne Bruce, Mississippi Press Association)</i><o:p></o:p></div></td></tr></tbody></table>Five Mississippi journalists accepted awards for their reporting and reflected on it and the state of journalism at an event in Jackson Friday. Ray Mosby and Natalie Perkins of the <b>Deer Creek Pilot</b> in Rolling Fork and Jerry Mitchell of <b>The Clarion-Ledger</b> in Jackson won the Bill Minor Prize for Investigative Journalism, and Jamie Patterson of <b>The Yazoo Herald </b>and Tim Kalich of <b>The Greenwood Commonwealth</b> won the Minor Prize for General News Reporting. Bill Minor, who died in March at 94, was&nbsp;a longtime Mississippi statehouse correspondent for <b>The Times-Picayune </b>in New Orleans and later a syndicated political columnist.<br /><br />"Mosby and Perkins’ investigative coverage uncovered the dire need for renovations and repairs to the jointly owned <b>Sharkey-Issaquena Community Hospital</b>," Layne Bruce <a href="http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.mspress.org/resource/resmgr/fourth_estate/4E_Fall_2017.pdf" target="_blank">reports</a> for the <b>Mississippi Press Association</b>. Mitchell, who has made a career of investigating unsolved murders of the civil-rights era, did a story in 2012 that led to the 2016 conviction of a man for killing his wife in 1962. “It was the oldest conviction of a suspected serial killer in U.S. history,” Mitchell said. “It took over 50 years. . . . When the trial was over, the [district attorney] told me ‘If you know any other guilty sons-of-bitches, let me know.’”<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal">"Kalich was honored for a 2016 jailhouse interview with Edgar Ray Killen, convicted in the murders of civil-rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner during the Freedom Summer of 1964," Bruce reports. "Kalich said the interview took place at the behest of Killen, who previously has had a not surprisingly combative relationship with the press.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“He wrote me a letter and said he liked our newspaper,” Kalich said. “I don’t know what that says about our newspaper.” His four-hour interview "was complicated by the rambling nature of Killen’s responses and the fact the state penitentiary at Parchman, where the interview was conducted does not allow any outside materials to be brought inside," not even paper.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">"Patterson’s award-winning entry saw its genesis in two residents who turned to the local newspaper for help" because they had bought properties that the city had deemed a nuisance. “They later found out unpaid bills for cleanup, of $17,000 for one and $30,000 for the other, had been attached the land.” It was a complete surprise, Patterson said, adding that her investigation found “chaos” in the city’s recordkeeping.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The panel's moderator, syndicated columnist Rick Cleveland, "opened the program by discussing the challenges facing community journalists," Bruce reports, quoting him: “The best way to combat the perception that the media is the enemy is to put our heads down and do our jobs.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div></div>Al Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12359789093150390148noreply@blogger.com0